New report explains why physicians are reluctant to share patient data
Thursday, July 7, 2011 - 12:00
in Health & Medicine
Family doctors are reluctant to disclose identifiable patient information, even in the context of an influenza pandemic, mostly in an effort to protect patient privacy. A recently published study by Dr. Khaled El Emam the Canada Research Chair in Electronic Health Information at the University of Ottawa and the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute recently found that during the peak of the H1N1 pandemic in 2009, there was still reluctance to report detailed patient information for public health purposes. These results are important today, so we can learn from that experience and prepare for the inevitable next pandemic.